Promise 41 Gen. 17:8

Gen. 17:8 - "I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." There is a purpose in that emphasis. The land of Canaan does not belong to the Canaanites or to anyone else, the land belongs to God. When God says that He will be the God of the Israelites, He is saying, "You have no reason to worry because the land is not theirs (Canaanites) to choose what to do with, it is not in their power to have a say in this, the land belongs to Me." All of what we have belongs to Him. We have no need to fret about holding onto or losing possessions or land, because it all belongs to Him. Because we belong to Him too, it is not our say what happens to us, because we belong to Him. By belonging, I'm not saying we should live in helplessness at the mercy of an angry God. Not at all, belonging to God means, we belong to His family, we are under His care, He takes responsibility for our wellbeing. He doesn't exercise His right to us for His own gain, He sovereignly exercises His right to us for ours; so that we may gain the Father's love. He is our God, hold on loosely to what you believe is yours and tightly to the One who you KNOW is yours.

Promise 40 Gen. 17:7

Gen. 17:7 - "I will establish my covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you." Abraham didn't ask for or seek for this covenant with God. God, on His own accord reached out to Abraham. The Almighty God, Himself chose to attach Himself to Abraham and his descendants. Often times people think God shows up only if we beg or plead for Him to, that's not the case at all. God chose us, so that He may dwell in us, through Jesus. He chose us so that He can be our God, so that He can watch over us and provide for us. He chose us! PTL!

Promise 39 Gen. 17:1-2

Gen. 17:1-2 - "Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to Him, 'I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly'." When God appeared to Abram, He made Himself clear as to Who He is. The first thing He wanted Abram to hear was, "I am God Almighty" He wanted Abram to know that there is nothing that is impossible for Him to do, before He declared that the impossible will be done. But it wasn't Him that said this thing would be impossible, it was Abram that said (or at least eluded to the fact) that Sarah's giving birth at 90 years old would be impossible. The great promise and truth here is that, even before we utter the words, or even think them, "this is impossible!" or "Hopeless", God has already said, "nothing, absolutely, nothing is impossible for Me to sort out." God doesn't keep us from impossible situations, He doesn't need to because He has already declared the victory over it by stating His part in it. He is the Almighty - no one and nothing is mightier than He. Amen!

Promise 38 Gen. 16:13

Gen. 16:13 - "Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'You are a God who sees': for she said, 'Have I even remained alive here after seeing Him?'" This verse tells more of a fact than a promise, but it can be taken as a promise as well. God sees us! He sees when we get up and when we lie down, He sees our outward actions and our inward thoughts. It scares me sometimes, that thought of having to stand face to face with the Almighty God who knows absolutely every thing about me. Sometimes I would like to bury my head in the sand and pretend He didn't see that action or hear this thought. I would love to reverse many of my thoughts and actions at the awareness that He saw me and He heard me. But I can't! It's amazing that He does allow me to stand up right and to contiune in this life, that He hasn't struck me dead. Just like Hagar says, "I've seen Him and yet I still live?" I am alive and healthy only by the grace of God and Him alone. I'm alive only because of His love that brings Him to forgive me over and over again. (I see you Lord and yet I still live?)

Promise 37 Gen. 16:9-10

Gen. 16:9-10 - "Then the angel of the Lord said to her, 'Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her authority.' Moreover the angel of the Lord said to her, 'I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count'." Hagar had treated Sarai poorly, and therefore was treated poorly herself to a point where she couldn't stand to stay even among the security of Abram's wealth and provision for her and her child. So here she was, out in the desert, I would suppose she was trying to find her way back to Egypt, and the Lord met her right where she was at. In her heart, she was broken, scared, tired and lonely. God met her in that place. She didn't seek Him out or call after Him, He just came. When He showed up, He gave her instruction as to what she should do and what her reward would be if she obeyed; A promise that her descendants would be too many to count. God knows right where we are and He meets us there. He may tell us things we don't want to hear like, 'Go back to the one who mistreated you', but He will always leave us with a blessing in obedience. Even if Hagar didn't "deserve" an encounter with God, He sought after her, to have an encounter with her. What a great God He is!

Promise 36 Gen. 15:18

Gen. 15:18 - "On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram saying, 'To your descendants I have given this land, from the river to Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates'." God has shown me visions and given me words of knowledge concerning my life, all of which are future plans and promises. Some of them seem absolutely impossible to be received. I've had to struggle through what I do with these visions, promises. When they happened I was very sure they were from God. So do I sit in anxiousness to receive these promises? No, because He made it clear they are for my future. Do I sit and try to figure out how they are going to come to pass? or even worse, see what I can do to help them come along? Well, we know what happens when that is done, just by reading ahead in Abraham's story. I need to just rest and trust that what is from God belongs to God, He'll give it to me when He chooses. Mine is not to wonder if He will give it or how or when, because it's not mine to own such questions over it. It is His and His alone until the time He releases it from His hands. The fun promise here is that He does give dreams, visions, promises and great hopes for the future. We don't need to embrace those as much as we need to embrace Him.

Promise 35 Gen. 15:15

Gen. 15:15 - "As for you (Abram), you shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good ole age." I'm sure that was quite re-assuring for Abram that he would have a long life and that it would end in peace. Now, I know this was a promise specifically for Abram straight from God, but there is a promise here that we can stand on too. The promise is that we can end in peace. We can go to our "Father" in peace. I've heard many parents say that they don't fear death for themselves but they fear it for their children, knowing that their death will cause pain for their children and those they leave behind. The Lord is saying here, "No worries, no need to fret, I've got it all sorted, just come to Me." We can have peace in our present and future and even in our death because God has it all covered.

Promise 34 Gen. 15:13-14

Gen. 15:13-14 - "God said to Abram, 'Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.'" This is a difficult passage because we know that God is a "good" God and that He loves His people, yet there will be 4-5 generations of people who will question that fact as they will be stuck in slavery and living under harsh conditions. I'm sure they will feel as though God has deserted them. What is seemingly worse, is that He knew way before it is to happen that it will happen. It's times like this that God just doesn't make sense to us. It brings up the age ole' question, "Why does God allow His people to suffer?" The difference we see between man (who of course would not let anyone suffer) and God, is that man's plan for man is only 70-100 years long, God's plan for man is for all eternity. He sees the big picture. He knows that the journey His people will take that will lead them to the cross of Jesus needs to be a difficult one, or else they wont go. My initial thought was to write, "It's not about man, but it's all about God." But that's wrong, it's all about man because of the love of God. If man did not see their need for a Saviour, then they would not accept the gift of salvation when it's offered. If man does not receive the gift of salvation then they will be eternally separate from God and that would break His heart. So those 400 years of captivity were sacrificial years by God's people so that generations upon generations will live in freedom for all eternity. It's like our soldiers who risk their lives and fight in the trenches so that so many others can live in freedom. God has a plan, He knows what He is doing, and He knows what we need that will draw us and those after us into His Kingdom and into His arms.

Promise 33 Gen. 15:7-8

Gen. 15:7-8 - "And He said to Him, 'I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.' He (Abram) said, 'O Lord God, how may I know that I will possess it?'" Now you would think that God would be frustrated at Abram at this point. He has already seen God be true to His word, yet he still isn't believing that He is going to do what He says He will do. Abram wants more proof, more information, more details of how God is going to secure the land He has promised. How many times do we do that? Do we question God? All the time! We can't seem to take God at His word so we challenge it or push Him to prove Himself. God didn't leave Abram sitting in wonder though, because of His love, He revealed to Him what will take place, and even the timelines. He didn't have to do that, but He did, because He cared. God meets us right where we are at. Even though He is good on His word "always", He will go the extra mile to give us whatever information we need that will cause us to trust Him and believe in Him even more, why? Because He desires that we be close to Him. That's what a loving Father does.

Promise 32 Gen. 15:4-5

Gen. 15:4-5 - "Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying. 'This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.' And He took him outside and said, 'Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.'" Have you ever found yourself grumbling at God, thinking that He wasn't really listening, or in response to a remark in your mind, not realizing it was God? We all do it! We all talk to ourselves, our minds go almost non-stop, full of conversation and interaction; either re-living past conversations with people, or trying to change these conversations to what they should've been, or we are thinking of future interactions with people or we are simply thinking on whatever pops into our minds. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time shutting that off. So here is Abram, a thought comes in his head 'Do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great." (vs.1) Does he really realize that this is God speaking to him or does he "daydream God in a vision?" Kind of like he is congratulating himself for being obedient (earlier), but thinking this is what he would hope that God would say to him. So here's his grumble; 'Yeah right God, what could you possibly give me? You haven't given me what I really want, and that's children. What could you possibly want to give me that is better than that?" Then suddenly God snaps him to attention and responds to him. The verse says, "Then behold, the word of the Lord came to him..." It's the same as "Then what d'ya know, then God spoke back". God responded to his grumblings, but He didn't say, "Ah Abram, stop your whining, get a grip, stop dreaming, get back to your work and focus on your task at hand." No, God heard the cries of Abram's heart, his longing. It doesn't matter if Abram really intended for God to hear it or not, but God did, and because of His great love for Abram, He promised him that he would dry the tears of his heart and will give him the children that he so desires to have. God does hear the cries of our heart, He will respond to them. The greatest point in this is not in the message of His response but in the heart of the Responder.

Promise 31 Gen. 15:1

Gen. 15:1 - "After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not fear, Abram I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great!" It was after Abram's obedience that the word of the Lord came to him. When we are in tuned with God, He is in tuned with us. He will reward our faithfulness to Him. Not only that, we don't have to guess what that reward will be, He will reveal it to us, but we need to be listening to Him and watching for Him. When God gives us a word from Him, or a picture/vision, we can't brush it off as indigestion, we need to take note, write it down and then test it; ie. ask ourselves, 'Is this consistent with what I know the character of God is?" God said to Abram, "Do not fear!" and called him by name, then said "I am a shield to you." Abram had no question in his mind that this was God. He recognized the voice, he heard it many times before. The message is consistent with what God has been telling Him, "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you." (12:3). In other words "No worries mate, I've go your back!" We can stand on this promise too, God is watching over us, He is our Shield, our Protector, He's got our back. Praise the Lord!

Promise 30 Gen. 16:21-24

Gen. 16:21-24 - "The king of Sodom said to Abram, 'Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.' Abram said to the king of Sodom, ' I have sworn to the Lord God most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a thong or anything that is yours, for fear you would say, 'I have made Abram rich. I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me....'" The Lord God most High is the possessor of heaven and earth. All that we see, He owns. It saddens me to think of how many times I've promised things to God and took back that promise. How many times I've offered myself to Him and all that I have and then did what pleased me or was selfish with my time and my things. I keep forgetting that all I have is His. We should not look to others or to other means, in order to gain wealth, thereby robbing God of the pleasure of blessing us Himself. He is a jealous God, He loves us so much, He doesn't want anyone to take His place in being our provider. That is His role as our Heavenly Daddy to provide for and to bless His children. May we all become like Abram and not settle for anything less than what God wants to provide for us!

Promise 29 Gen. 13:17

Gen. 13:17 - "Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you." I used to wake up early in the morning, before anyone was up in town and the sun was just breaking light over this city in Kosova, my dog and I would walk through the residential areas. With each step I took I would claim that piece of ground for Jesus and every house I could cast my eyes on, it was claimed for Jesus. The Lord gave me that land, for it was there that He sent me, just like Abram. I know, that God is going to do a great work there in that city, because He gave me (and my team) that land to establish His kingdom. What land has He given you? Have you claimed it yet?

Promise 28 Gen. 13:16

Gen. 13:16 - "I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered." Have you ever noticed how dust never really goes away? It's a constant presence, sure it can be wiped away for a moment, but then the next day it's back. Abram's descendants were going to be as dust. Because God's hand and favour was on him, His descendants were the physical sign of God's blessing on Abraham. Not only was it His promise to him, but the reality. When God favours us, His blessings are like dust ever present. On occasion it may seem like they've been wiped away, but then, there they are again, very evident and all around us. Thank you Lord for Your many blessings!